Praying Hands
by Hray1
Summary: Can Booth and Brennan solve a case that rocks the very foundations of their belief systems? Set in season 5. Read and Review!
1. Chapter 1

**Praying Hands**

**Author's Note: This story will be centered on a fictitious polygamist group in a fictitious town in the Tennessee Mountains. The characters and their ideals expressed in this story are based on stereotypes and generalities found in the main stream media. It is not my intention or desire to offend anyone.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own or profit from the characters of Bones, they belong to Fox and its affiliates.**

Wednesday 6:25am

Booth and Brennan stood in the baggage claim area of the Knoxville Airport, having just landed on a flight from Dulles Airport in Washington DC. The pair looked, like most of the passengers, dog tired and decidedly rumpled. After having been woken at one a.m. to be sent on a case, the pair had been booked seats in the economy section of the plane, and Booth's tall form was not meant to be squished in such a small space for any length of time. His constant efforts to get comfortable had rubbed against Brennan the entire flight making her rumpled as well.

Once they had their bags in hand the pair went to the coffee shop to get a drink and call their contact agent. While Brennan ordered their drinks Booth made the call to an Agent Rankin.

After the phone had beeped twice, "Rankin here," a thick southern accent apparent in those two short words.

"Agent Rankin this is Special Agent Seeley Booth. I am here at the Knoxville Airport with the forensic anthropologist you requested."

"Excellent, I'm fixin' to leave right now. I'll meet ya'll at gate eight."

As Booth was hanging up Brennan arrived with their steaming cups of coffee, "Ah liquid heaven, thanks Bones," Booth said, smiling appreciatively at the warmth of the cup.

"Was that Agent Ranking you were speaking with?"

"Yep"

"Did he tell you any more about the case?" Brennan hated being left in suspense, and the only information that she had been given was that she was needed in Tennessee and that the agent there would have the case file.

"No, he just said that he was 'fixin'' to leave and he'd meet us at gate eight."

Some twenty minutes later a generic black SUV pulled up to the curb just outside of gate eight. In the window was a hand written sign reading, "S.A. Booth," with a boyish looking individual driving. As they walked up to the car Brennan asked, "What does the SA stand for?"

"You don't know?" Booth seemed genuinely surprised that Brennan was unaware of some fact, "It means Special Agent."

When they got closer the young man exited the vehicle and rushed to greet them, he extended his hand to Booth, "Hi, you must be Special Agent Booth."

"Yes," and then turning to indicate Brennan, "and this is Dr. Temperance Brennan of the Jeffersonian Institute."

The young man grinned and his face flushed slightly as he took her hand, "I'm Agent Rankin. It's a pleasure ma'am."

Brennan smiled back, "It's nice to meet you too Agent Rankin."

Seeming slightly flustered the agent reached for her bag, "Here let me get for you ma'am and put that in the back."

Brennan laughed slightly, "Although I am perfectly capable of carrying my own, I am ok with you carrying it for me."

The young agent's face turned a little confused by her answer, but guessing that it was ok to grab her bag he did so and lead the way the short distance to the car. While walking, Booth leaned in closer to Brennan to tease her saying, "If I had tried that you would have decked me. What's going on, do you like this guy?"

"I don't know what 'decked' means but I am aware that the culture in the traditional south is male dominated, therefore the need for these displays of alpha male tendencies is pronounced. I am simply allowing him his cultural norm."

Booth grinned at her, "If you say so Bones."

In short order the bags were stowed in the trunk and the trio were on their way, with Booth sitting in the front passenger's seat and Brennan in the back. Rankin weaved them through traffic and managed to get on the interstate with little trouble from traffic. He was a genial man and pointed out various landmarks to them as they drive along. Once on the interstate talk turned to the case they were there to investigate.

"Agent Rankin, what was the context of the find?"

"Well, three hunters found two sets of skeletal remains at approximately nine o'clock last evening. It took an hour to get to where they had cell service to call the local sheriff. The sheriff thinks it might be a serial killer so he punted it to the FBI."

Brennan looked at Rankin in the rear view mirror, "Have the remains been removed?"

"Yes ma'am they are awaiting you at the Dublin City Police Department."

"I would like to see the remains first and then proceed with our investigation," Brennan said looking between Booth and Rankin.

"Whatever you say, Dr. Brennan."

The drive to Dublin City took another hour, and by this time the sun was up almost fully and had burned most of the fog off the roads and mountains. Dublin City was a tiny town, much like the town of Aurora in Washington they had visited. The court house took up the center block of the town; its tall edifice casting a shadow on the buildings below, it was the tallest building in town at three stories tall. The police station and emergency response group were housed in a squat brick building, surrounded on the back side with a barbed wire fence.

Agent Rankin led the way into the police station, the front lobby held the small booking station and waiting room. Along the back wall was the dispatch desk with a short blonde woman behind it, she appeared to be in her late forties, a few gray strands barely visible in the light.

Ranking walked over to the desk and leaned against it to talk to the woman, "Why deputy Cord, is it possible that you look more ravishing now than you did just five hours ago?"

The woman laughed, "You must need glasses. What can I do you for?"

"I have an Agent Booth and Dr. Brennan from DC here to look at them bodies."

Deputy Cord's expression changed slightly, "Ah, well you know where we got 'em at," then turning to the two standing behind Rankin, "I hope ya'll catch whoever did this. We ain't had a murder here in years."

Booth smiled kindly at the woman, "We'll certainly do our best."

With that Rankin led the pair to the morgue. It was housed, like most morgues, in the basement of the building. The room was accessible from the inside via a flight of stairs. Much to Brennan's surprise the room was well lit and well stocked, when she expressed this, Rankin replied, "The local funeral home uses this place to do the embalmin'"

There was a small refrigerated room off to the side that Rankin went into and wheel out a gurney. On it was a long body bag, obviously holding one of the victims. Brennan reached into her bag and pulled out her gloves and her digital recorder. After gloving she slowly pulled the zipper open to reveal the body inside. She turned on her recorder and started making observations.

"Female, epiphyseal fusion puts age in mid to late teens. Lack of tissue indicates that the victim died at least three years ago. Tibia and Fibula are slightly bowed, most likely from malnutrition. Scarring on the pelvis indicates that she has given birth at least once, maybe twice. Remodeling on the ribs is evident as well as on the right ulna and various metacarpals. Left side of the body seems to have sustained peri-mortem damage. Fresh breaks appear on the phalanges, ulna and radius. Her shoulder appears dislocated. Cause of death appears to be blunt force trauma to the occipital bone of the skull. This girl was beaten to death."

The last was said to Booth. He stood up and walked to the body speaking to Bones, "You said that the pelvis indicates that she has given birth at least once. How can you tell?"

"Pregnancy and birth cause the pelvis to shift, the strain leaves marks on the bone. Her pelvis shows extensive damage, which means that she either had a very large baby or she has had more than one."

"And you're sure about the age?"

"Epiphyseal fusion doesn't lie."

Booth and Rankin walked out into the hall way to talk while Brennan conducted an analysis of the second victim.

Booth spoke first, "What's this case saying to you Rankin?"

"I've been thinkin'. A serial killer just doesn't feel right here, especially as far up the mountain as we found them. There's a group that lives up there. They call themselves 'The Fundamentalist Church of God Almighty.' We've investigated them a couple times for child molestation and cruelty, but could never get anything to stick. The spot they were found in is awful close to the edge of their property."

"Have they reported anyone missing?"

"No, but they wouldn't anyway. They don't trust 'outsiders.' And tend to deal with disputes amongst themselves."

"Do you think you could get us up there to them?"

"Sure, but if these two belong to them, we most likely won't ever solve the case."

Booth had to smile at that, "That may have been true before, but now you've got Bones. She can solve anything."

"You're that confident in her?"

"I've seen what she can do."

Their conversation was interrupted by the arrival of Brennan. Her eyes were a little glazed over with what looked like tears.

"The second victim was female approximately same age; she's been dead less than a year. There were fetal bones with her remains…"

Booth was the first to speak after that announcement, "Rankin, here thinks he might know who they belong to. It's a fundamentalist group up the mountain. You feel up to riding up there to investigate?"

Brennan gave him a look that clearly said 'that's a dumb question," But answered, "Of course, are you? Up to riding I mean?"

"You bet, Rankin here said he would drive us up."

Rankin nodded, "No problem, but I feel like I need to warn you about what these people are like."


	2. Chapter 2

Praying Hands

**Disclaimer: Still don't own Bones or the characters**.

Chapter 2

Once Brennan had shipped the samples she had collected to the Jeffersonian, the group piled in the car and started up the mountain.

"Alright Agent Rankin, what can you tell us about this group?" Brennan asked. She was really looking forward to this part of the investigation. As an anthropologist other cultures fascinated her, and this fundamentalist group was definitely on the order of 'different culture.'

"The group's founder is Joseph Vanderhoeff. He is formerly of Sweden, moved here in the early seventies. Accordin' to passport information from the time he is sixty five. His legal wife is Johanna, married before they moved here. They own the top 250 acres of land up the mountain. Multiple families live in the compound. We can't get a real good number 'cause communal life blurs the family lines."

Booth, who had been reading the case file, looked up, "How many people live up there?"

"Last time we investigated there were a good 200 plus people up there."

Then Brennan spoke up, "How many were children?"

"Under 21? At least 150 of em."

"That's just sick," Booth said with obvious distaste on his face.

"Booth, don't be so judgmental. Anthropologically speaking these people are following a very ancient social norm; it has only been in the past five centuries that the practice of monogamy has become so widespread."

He turned in his seat as far as he could to look Brennan in the face, "Do you really think it's ok for grown men to be marrying children simply because five hundred years ago more people did it?"

"No, what I'm saying is that polygamy isn't anything unusual in human history and that we haven't seen any evidence yet that supports the idea that this culture participates in child marriages."

Booth's reply was cut off when Rankin turned off the paved road and onto a rutted dirt one. The entire inside of the vehicle was shack and wracked for about twenty minutes as they drove up the side of the mountain. Booth and Brennan held off their conversation as both were busy holding on to avoid being tossed about the cabin. The dirt road soon gave way to a paved one, far off the road small houses could be seen scattered in the woods. Rankin slowed the car and pulled to a stop when they topped the hill.

As the group exited the vehicle they each took in their surroundings. The area the car was parked in was a cleared out section of woods surrounded by several buildings. There was a small group of children playing in the shade of one building, being closely guarded by an older girl who appeared to be around twelve or thirteen. Whatever game they had been playing was stopped as the children stood to study the strangers.

From one of the buildings an older woman stepped out and onto the porch, followed quickly by several other women who seemed younger than her. All the women were dressed similarly, with long skirts and button down blouses, they also all had long hair, some were braided others left it unbound. The mood around them did not seem to be inviting or friendly, and Brennan edged closer to Booth seeking a better view of the women and the children playing in the yard. Rankin rounded the car and strode over to the gaggle of women standing on the porch and hollered a greeting.

"Good morning Mrs. Johanna!"

The eldest woman came down to stand on the utmost step, "Mornin' agent"

"Mrs. Johanna, do you reckon me and Agent Booth here could talk with Mr. Joseph?"

Johanna turned to one of the younger women and quietly gave her direction, "Anne, fetch Joseph up here. Tell him the FBI's back."

"Yes ma'am." With that the woman scurried off the porch and headed down a dirt path into the woods.

Rankin smiled up at Johanna, "You think my guests could get a tour while we wait on Mr. Joseph?"

She turned and stared coldly at Booth and farther back to where Brennan stood, holding her bag, "Hmm this building is our kitchen and dining hall. We take all our meals here." Stepping off the porch she led them to the next building, "This is our laundry building. We have water and electricity running to this building. We make our clothes in here and do all the compound laundry in here. The building next door to this is our nursery. That's were all our children not old enough to work or learn stay during the day. Across the way is the school house, we ensure that all our children are well educated, we exceed the state standards, "this last was said with a glare aimed at Rankin, "The last building is our meeting hall, that's where the elders meet and where we hold religious services."

When the tour was finished they returned to the dining hall building, to find an elderly gentleman standing on the porch. He was gruff looking and the scowl on his face did little assuage that.

"Mr. Rankin, to what do we owe this pleasure, " they was he said pleasure indicated that he saw it as anything but a pleasure.

"Mr. Joseph, if we could speak with you inside…"

"I'll speak with you and that man, but I aint meetin with no woman."

Before Brennan could bristle and make a comment to the elderly man Booth spoke up first, "That would be perfectly acceptable. Would it be permissible for Dr. Brennan to look around the compound while we chat?"

Joseph considered for a moment and then turned to study the group of women standing around him, "Mary, watch the woman. The rest of you get back to your chores," Joseph spoke curtly to the women.

The woman called Mary walked down the stairs, she appeared to be shy and more than a little nervous given the situation. Rankin and Booth walked up the stairs and into the building, and the women quickly dispersed leaving Brennan and Mary staring at each other.

After a few moments Brennan decided to break the silence and introduce herself, "Hi, my name is Temperance. Are you Mary?"

"Yes," this said at barely more than a whisper.

"What can you show me first, "Brennan said softly, remembering to keep a reign on her patience.

"I can take you in the laundry building."

"That will be great," she said pulling her recorder out of her bag, "would you mind if I recorded your tour?"

"Why you want to do that?"

"That way I can remember the lay out better when we get back," Brennan replied.

Mary seemed satisfied with that reason and escorted Brennan to the building and up the stairs, "This building has two stories, upstairs is where we keep our sewing machines and down here is where the machines are." Looking into the window Brennan surveyed the room, along the wall were several sets of washers and dryers and the center of the room was filled with long wooden tables. Inside there were five women all between the ages of twelve and twenty folding clothes from a large pile. Then Mary took Brennan around to see the nursery and the school buildings. After peaking in the windows Brenna turned to Mary.

"So Mary what's your job here?"

"I help in the kitchens in the mornings and in the afternoons I teach the youngest children."

"How are the jobs divided here?"

"The elder's head wives assign everyone their chores as our needs change."

"So your social hierarchy is based on aligning yourselves based on marital status?"

Mary smiled with a bemused expression, "What?"

"The women married to the most powerful men are the most powerful women."

"Oh no, it aint about power. The bible tells us in Titus that the elder women should teach the younger the ways of God and how to be a good wife. We younger wives learn from being paired with elders."

Brennan was interested in this social construct and decided to delve into it further, "How do you learn from the elders?"

"Well for instance, I am getting good at cookin because I work with Miss. Johanna and the other women, and when I start havin' my babies, I'll learn from the women who already have children. When we learn and teach each other, our bonds grow stronger."

Brennan could understand this reasoning; many nomadic tribes around the world had similar social structures for their women. She wanted to see how much Mary would reveal to her about life in the compound and so sought to continue the conversation, "Can you show me some of the other buildings?"

Mary smiled, "Sure, we just can't disturb the other's working. Just down this trail is our…"

Meanwhile inside the dining hall Booth and Rankin were sitting with Joseph at one of the long tables.

Joseph was the first to speak, "Alright Mr. Rankin, what is this about? More complaints from the heathen?"

"Not at all Mr. Joseph. We were wondering if any of your women had gone missing in the last year?"

Joseph canted his head at the two and seemed to study them for a moment before answering, "Why do you ask?"

Booth interjected at that point, "Some remains were found not far from the edge of your property yesterday evening and we wanted to ensure that all of the members of your community were safe and accounted for."

Joseph smirked, "I'm sure you did," then his gazed went a bit steely and his voice hardened with malice, "No matter what you heathen think, our women here are happy and they don't need to be rescued."

Booth put up his hands in a defensive manner, "Sir, I assure you our investigation is simply into the identity of these two girls."

"Two girls?"

Rankin spoke at that point, "Yes sir, we found two sets of remains. One is about three years dead and the other less than a year. Did any of your girls go missing?"

Joseph thought on that a moment before replying, "Emma. Went missing back last January."

"Why didn't you report her missing then?" Booth asked trying to look concerned instead of full of rage like he was.

"We just figured God had called her home. No sense searching for her, we knew where she went."

"Mr. Joseph, can we speak with her family?" Ranking asked.

He answered quickly, "Come back tomorrow. I will ensure that her father and mother will be available."

"Thank you very much," came Rankin's reply as he stood up from the table. He had learned from his past dealings with the group that long visits were not appreciated and that over staying your welcome could hinder your investigation, "We'll be back in the morning."

Joseph ushered them out the door and to their car. They found Brennan and Mary standing near the school house. Booth was struck by the differences between the two women, not just in physical appearance and clothing but in their mannerisms. He could tell, even from this distance, that Brennan was the more confident of the two, Mary seemed more timid and didn't meet any of the men's gazes. Booth called out to Brennan across the field, "Let's go Bones!"

Brennan spoke briefly with Mary before joining the men at the car. Booth had the car door open by the time she reached the vehicle and Brennan stepped into the car without a word. Once the men had climbed in and they had started their drive down the mountain Brennan asked, "So did you find anything out about the girls?"

Booth turned slightly in the seat to see Brennan, "Not much, Vanderhoeff was pretty tight lipped, said the newest one might be one of their girls. We are coming back up in the morning to speak with the parents. Did you learn anything?"

Brennan pulled her digital recorder out of her bag to indicate that she had evidence recorded, "Yeah we have lots to talk about."


	3. Chapter 3

Praying Hands 3

**Disclaimer: I don't own or profit from Bones which belongs to Fox and its affiliates.**

Both Rankin and Booth stared at the digital recorder that Brennan was holding up like a trophy, curious to what secrets it would contain. The ride down the mountain was no smoother than the ride up, so further discussion about the tapes contents had to be held off for a few minutes. Once the car hit paved road Rankin immediately began asking questions.

"So what did you find Dr. Brennan?" Rankin asked looking at her in the rearview mirror.

"I found a great deal of insight into their culture. It's really very fascinating, the female half operate based on a hierarchical struc…"

"How is that going to help us find out who killed the girls?"

Brennan appeared confused by the question; it had been at least three years since an agent had questioned her in regards to an investigation. Most of the agents in the DC area had become use to her methodical approach, and seeing the success rate, chose not to question her any more.

"Agent Rankin, when investigating a crime, you should find out all the facts and then see how they all fit together. Having too much information is never a problem."

The agents brows rose at receiving a set down, "Are you serious?"

"As an aneurism."

"It's 'has a heart attack' Bones not 'as an aneurism'" Booth supplied from the front seat.

"Heart attacks, while serious, are far more treatable than an aneurism, I think my statement was far more accurate."

"Not the point Bones…"

"Is she serious?" Rankin asked, for the first time seriously questioning the wisdom of bringing this forensic anthropologist into the investigation.

"Yes, I'm afraid she is. Look, I'll go over the information with Dr. Brennan and bring back to you what you need."

"That sounds like a plan to me. How about I drive you all down to Louvale and let you get settled into your hotel?"

Brennan spoke from the backseat, "That's an excellent plan, I need to check in with my lab anyway…"

Wednesday 6:45 pm

Rankin dropped the pair off at the local hotel with a promise to pick them up at eight in the morning. The pair had secured a room, only one because the loggers union was hosting their annual convention in Louvale this year and had blocked out a number of rooms in the two hotels in the town. Once in the room Brennan set up her computer to speak with the squint squad while Booth perused the phone book for delivery Chinese food.

Shortly after making the connection with the Jeffersonian's mainframe the view finder filled with the image of Jack Hodgins.

"Hey Dr. B!"

"Did you receive the samples and x-rays I sent this morning?"

"Yes, Wendell is studying the x-rays now and I have the g-masspectrometer running a geological profile."

"When can we expect results?"

"Not till in the morning. The masspec is running slow and I am still running through the bugs."

"Alright, I'll call back in the morning."

"You bet" the image showed Hodgins reaching up just out of screen view and pushing a button, then the screen went blank being replaced with a medico-legal lab symbol.

Brennan turned around to watch Booth finish placing the order for their food. When he was off the phone he asked, "Why don't we start listening to what you got?"

Brennan laid the digital recorder on her bed and tossed Booth a notepad and pen then pushed play. It was a routine both were comfortable with, listening to an interview and taking notes, then they would compare notes when it was over. During the three hours of tape, the Chinese food had arrived and been consumed, with little conversation.

When the tape went silent Booth spoke, "Alright Bones what do you think is going on up there?"

"Like I was trying to tell Rankin earlier, the female populous is organized in a hierarchy based on marital status and age, very structured and very lineated."

"What does that mean?"

"It means that the eldest females are going to know everything that goes on. We know that Johanna is the most dominate female and from talking with Mary I think that Laura, Emily D, and Sharon are also dominate females. "

"So tomorrow we should interview them"

"Not at all, their position is going to be very important to them, they won't cooperate we need to concentrate on the youngest wives, they will be far more likely to talk."

"Exploit their jealousy of the elder wives?"

"Jealousy isn't part of their culture Booth."

"Come one Bones, no woman wants to share their husband."

"In our culture. You can't impose your values on the actions of other groups. In their society it is natural and expected to have multiple wives, the girls are raised to know this will happen, they see it growing up. Why would it bother them as adults?"

Booth couldn't believe what he was hearing, "Are you saying you think what they are doing is ok?"

"I'm saying its part of their culture, their religion. Why are you being so judgmental?"

"Because, this isn't about religion, it's about those men taking advantage of young girls. They keep them hidden up in those mountains and convince them that its God's will!"

"You can't possibly know whether those women are content in that situation or not."

Booth reached down and picked up the digital recorder and shook it at her, "Listen to her voice Bones, and you tell me if she sounds content. Cause what I am hearing is a defeated young woman."

Brennan shook her head at Booth in disbelief, "We don't have evidence to confirm that. You don't like their interpretation of God so you think they are criminals. That's the kind of mind set that started the crusades."

Booth's face turned red, "Bones you are the most impossible woman I have ever met, I swear to God. Gordon Gordon is wrong, this can't possibly work." With that Booth stormed out of the room, looking for some distance and perspective on the situation.

Brennan was left standing in utter shock after the door slammed. A few seconds later the hotel room phone rang, rushing over she picked it up, "Hello?"

"Dr. Brennan? This is Jenny at the front desk."

"Yes"

"We've had a couple of calls complainin about shoutin in ya'll's room. Is everything alright?"

"Yes Jenny, thank you. I'm sorry to have disturbed your other guests."

"If you're sure…"

"Yes, we're fine thank you." And Brennan quickly hung the phone up. She was indescribably embarrassed that their shouting match had been heard next door, and still utterly confused about Booth's last comment. What had he meant?

Brennan picked up her phone and quickly hit the speed dial number for Angela. The artist picked up the phone after just a few rings, "Hello."

"Hey Angela, it's me"

"Hey sweetie, how's the mountains? Terribly romantic?"

"Hardly, Booth and I just had a fight."

Angela sat up from where she had been lounging on her couch with Wendell, "What happened?"

"It's this case Ang. Booth won't compartmentalize and it's affecting his judgment."

"What did you say sweetie?" Angela asked, she knew too well how these types of arguments start between those two.

"I might have compared his thought process to that of the Catholic Church during the crusades…"

There was a sigh on the other end of the line, "Bren, you've got to use that giant brain of yours before you speak."

"I think I might have hurt his feelings."

"I think you're right. Sweetie did you apologize?"

"No, he just said something about Gordon Gordon and left the hotel."

"Sounds like he needs some time to calm down. When he gets back you need to tell him you're sorry."

"I know"

"Then do it, love your guts sweetie"

"Thanks Ang."

When Angela closed her phone Wendell pulled her back down on the couch and rubbed his cheek on her hair, "Everything ok?"

"Its Brennan, she and Booth had a fight."

"Yeah?"

"She can be so dense sometimes."

"Dr. Brennan is a very smart lady. She'll learn, besides she's got Booth there to help her out."

"If she doesn't drive him off first."

"Angela you said they've been playing this game for years, if she hasn't driven him off yet, I don't think she ever will."

"I hope you're right…"

Meanwhile Brennan took advantage of the empty room and took her shower. She quietly hummed to herself as she combed out her damp hair and smeared lotion on her body. By the time she was finished in the bathroom Booth had still not returned. Figuring he would return when he was good and ready she turned the light off on her bedside table and turned to face the opposite wall, feeling just a bit too sad staring at his empty bed. The long day finally caught up with her and soon she was in a deep sleep.

Booth returned to the room about an hour later. The cold outside had finally driven him to seek warmth. After leaving the hotel he had walked down to the local quickie mart to buy a beer. With his alcoholic beverage in hand he then headed over to the small park across the street from the store. He sat there for three hours thinking their conversation over, finally calling his one source of unbiased support.

Gordon Gordon listened while Booth ranted about Brennan and her aggravating habits, how she could make his blood boil and his heart still pined for her at the same time. He reminded Booth he needed to be patient saying, "If you are patient she will reveal to you what she needs to be in this relationship. But you have to look for the signs and be willing to listen when they happen." Feeling a new found confidence in this quest to win Brennan's heart Booth decided to return to the hotel.

He still wasn't ready to discuss her outrageous comments, but he wasn't as angry anymore. Gordon Gordon had suggested listening for her inner feelings in comments like these rather than reacting to the words. That was a tall order, but Booth felt he was up to the task.

With the anger gone from his system, the cold finally began to sink in and it hastened his steps to make it back to warmth.

The first thing that Booth noticed when he entered their room was the smell. The entire room smelled like her shampoo and lotion, apparently God was trying to punish him. Her side of the room was dim with her lamp turned off, but he could make out the outline of her body under a mound of covers and his heart fluttered despite the ire he still felt for her. Being as quiet as possible Booth undressed to his boxers and slid beneath the covers on his bed, watching her for signs of waking. Once comfortably settled in the bed he watched her breathing for a few minutes thinking to himself.

Glancing at the clock he saw that it was close to two in the morning and he needed to get some sleep. Setting the alarm and turning off the lamp Booth settled farther it to the covers, still watching Brennan. In the dark he gathered his courage and whispered into the dark, "I love you Bren." After getting that small confession off his chest Booth quickly fell asleep. Brennan slept on oblivious to Booth's arrival and declaration.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: Still don't own Bones…**

Thursday 6:30 am

Brennan burrowed even deeper under the covers when the obnoxious sound of the hotel room alarm disrupted her dreams. She was only vaguely aware that the sounds immediately follow that noise had been Booth smacking the alarm and then grouchily padding his way to the bathroom to shower. Deciding she had to face the morning eventually she sat up in the bed and surveyed her surroundings. Her bed was hardly rumpled, a testimony to how tired she had been last night, but Booth's bed seemed to have been torn asunder with sheets and blankets and comforters strewn about. Booth stepped out of the bathroom for a brief moment, his toothbrush hanging out of his foamy mouth to grab his clean clothes from his bag. That brief moment was long enough to treat Brennan to a picture of his hard abs and chiseled arms.

Minutes later Booth emerged from the bathroom again, this time regrettably fully dressed and groomed, "You're up Bones," he motioned for her to take her turn in the shower.

Brennan grabbed her toiletry bag and clean clothes and headed to the bathroom in some haste. Since she had already showered her morning absolutions took considerably less time and by 7:30 both individuals were ready to face the day. Brennan set up her laptop to speak with the squints at the Jeffersonian while Booth went down for coffee and donuts. It didn't escape Brennan's notice that Booth had said not one word beyond his beckoning earlier to her. She decided to bring that up with Booth after she had consulted with her team.

Angela's face was the first to appear on the screen, her face one of worry, "How did last night go Sweetie?"

"We haven't talked yet. For right now let's concentrate on the case."

Angela appeared to be disappointed but quickly switched to all business, "Well it looks to me like there was more than one assailant, the wounds on both victims have multiple directionalities, congruent with a multi-person attack. I am going to run some figures through the angelator to get more definitive data."

Angela rolled out of screen to be replaced with Wendell, "Good morning Dr. Brennan. There appears to be two weapons used, one long and cylindrical and the other more flat. I am going to work on matching the wounds with a specific weapon today."

"I'll take my camera and take pictures of possible matches for comparison."

"Thank you Dr. Brennan." Wendell was then replaced with Dr. Hodgins.

"The particulates embedded in the skulls include flour and _streptococcus cremoris_ and soil congruent with the geology of where they were found."

"What is _streptococcus cremoris_?"

"It's a bacteria used in the production of buttermilk, cottage cheese, yogurt, and various other milk products. Not necessarily anything probative, everyone in the compound probably comes in contact with that bacteria."

Just then Booth reentered the room so Brennan decided to end the call, "Alright, I will call this afternoon with more information. Thanks guys!"

With that she pulled the laptop closed and turned to Booth, "I think we need to talk."

After setting down the items in his hands he spoke, "Bones, I don't want to talk about it again. I am trying to forgive you and it's just going to make me mad again."

"Well for what it's worth Booth, I'm sorry for what I said."

"Me too Bones, "then with a small grin, "now come and save me from eating all these donuts. Rankin is going to be here any minute," and just like that some of the tension that had been lingering in the room dissipated.

Within ten minutes the pair was in the lobby waiting for Rankin and within twenty after that he had arrived and they were off. Rankin turned off the radio, which had been blaring country music, so they could talk.

"Alright Dr. Brennan, what have we got?"

"My team studied the x-rays and samples I sent and determined that both women were attacked by at least two assailants, two different weapons."

"Is there any chance it was one person using two different weapons?"

"It's unlikely since the strike patterns are so different. Both have traces of soil and other trace components typical for individuals from the area."

"So they were definitely killed at the compound?"

"Or somewhere on the mountain, the murder weapons were almost certainly from the compound. I brought my camera, I'm going to take pictures of possible matches, we'll know more tomorrow."

Rankin then turned to Booth to speak, "I'm thinkin that Mr. Joseph orders the hit on these girls. You know how these things go down, you make the head honcho made and BAM they kill ya. What do you think?"

Booth thought about it a moment and decided that scenario feel right, so he said a phrase he never thought would pass his lips, "I don't want to form a conclusion until we have all the facts." Looking in the back seat he could see Brennan beaming with what could only be described as pride.

Looking back at Brennan as well Rankin asked, "What do you think Dr. Brennan?"

Brennan looked Rankin in the eye in the rearview mirror, "I think we need to gather more evidence. From speaking with Mary I think the best approach would be to talk with the younger wives first, then work our way up."

Rankin looked worried, "That might be hard. Those men up there are real protective of their women."

Brennan seemed confident, "As an anthropologist I have experienced hostility from the individuals I have been studying before, the key is to be understanding of their culture and not seek to interfere."

Booth, who up to that point had been listing questions he wanted to ask the possible victim's parents, had to chuckle at that before saying, "And you think you can study them without interfering?"

Brennan seemed offended by the implication, "and just when do you think I have interfered before?"

"Oh I don't know, the Mara Muerte case, when we found that mummy in the wall, the Chinese bone wedding case, the case at the Catholic Church, the pony play case, the list could go on and on…"

Not able to think of a witty reply Brennan remained silent.

The SUV pulled up onto the same hill as last time where all the main buildings were. It being early morning there were more people than yesterday. The men and women moved about industriously finishing morning chores. Joseph could be seen standing on the front porch of the dining hall watching the goings on of his community. Mary sat beside him on the top step of the porch, staring at the ground.

Again, Joseph motioned for the men to join him in the dining hall and leaned down to speak to Mary before the men joined him. She nodded her assent to whatever was said and quickly hurried down the stairs to greet Brennan.

Joseph opened the door to the building to let Booth and Rankin into the room, "Emma's parents are waiting at the table at the far end of the hall."

He introduced the couple as Matthew and Lauren. Matthew appeared to be in his fifties and Lauren in her late forties. There was definite tension in the room; Joseph stood to the side much like a vulture in a tree. Matthew and Lauren sat stiffly in the chairs they occupied, Matthew's face was one of stony displeasure, while Lauren's carried a far sadder expression, her eyes were puffy and red rimmed indicating that she had been crying already that morning.

Rankin and Booth seated themselves directly across from the two and Booth sat a digital recorder out in front of them, "Would you mind if we recorded our interview?"

Matthew glanced over at Joseph, and after receiving a nod from him agreed to the recorder, "That'd be ok."

Booth pulled out a notepad and pen to take notes on and the up to date case file. After sifting through the papers getting set in his mind the direction he wanted to take the interview, apparently Matthew became impatient, "I'd like to finish this before I die of old age," his displeasure with both agents evident in both his tone and facial expression.

Booth simply smiled, pushed the record button and said the necessary tags, "November 15th Agents Booth and Rankin primary interview with Matthew and Lauren in reference to case TN251-A175B"

Rankin cleared his throat, "First please accept our deepest condolences for the disappearance of your daughter. When was the last time you saw her?"

Matthew cleared his throat, glanced at Joseph and then said, "Around January 30th."

Joseph slightly nodded to Matthew, conveying his approval of the date Matthew had given.

The tone of Matthew's voice sounded like he was questioning the date, this made Booth immediately suspicious, "Are you certain of that?"

Matthew turned his head sharply to face Booth, "Are you sayin' I'm lyin'?  
"Not at all sir, just checking. I know it's been a while, but can you remember what Emma was wearing when you last saw her?"

"You want to talk about fashion?"

Instead of answering his question Booth placed an up close picture of the dress found on the victim believed to be Emma, "Does this look like something she might have worn?"

Lauren's eyes glazed over with tears, giving Booth and Rankin all the answer they needed.

Matthew further confirmed it by saying, "Yes, Lauren made that for Emma for her last birthday."

Lauren looked up at Matthew, wearing an expression of veiled confusion, then quickly back at the table, tears spilling down her face, Booth watched the interaction with interest then asked, "Mrs. Lauren, do you know of anyone who would want to hurt your daughter?"

Matthew spoke in her stead, "No, Emma was well liked."

"Were there any significant changes in her life before her death?"

"She started courtin' with Zachariah and because she was older she had recently took on new chores."

"What were her chores?"

As Matthew listed the chores and assignments his daughter had been assigned, Booth wrote Rankin a note on a small notepad, 'E was pregnant. Clueless or cover up?' He pushed the notepad over to Rankin who quickly scanned the note, circled his answer and shoved the note back. Booth saw his choice and quickly hid the tablet under the table to prevent Matthew from reading it, as he was trying to do.

"Mr. Matthew would it be possible to see Emma's room…her things?" Rankin asked.

Matthew turned to look at Joseph, "Joseph, can they really come up here and pry into our lives?"

"Mr. Matthew, don't you want to know who killed your daughter?"

Matthew turned to Rankin with a mixture of pain and hostility written on his face, "It won't bring her back."

"But don't you want answers?"

"We already have all the answers we need."

"What answers are those?"

"It was Emma's time to go home, that's answer enough for us," this was said softly by Lauren, the first she had spoken during the interview.

Booth looked her in the eye and spoke with an equally soft voice, "I understand, but we need to know what happened and the sooner we know everything the faster you can move past this."

Lauren answered again, "One of Matthew's younger daughters moved out of her mother's room and into the girl's dorm. We packed all of Emma's things into a hope chest."

Rankin asked looking at Matthew, "Can we have a look at the hope chest?"

Matthew nodded, "Don't know what you think you're gonna find in there…"

"You'd be surprised what our scientists can glean from evidence. Thank you for your cooperation. And again, you have our sincerest condolences." Booth said, saying the last part looking at Lauren, who was struggling to maintain her composure. Booth quickly put the picture away, when he saw her staring at it, then turned to Joseph, "Would it be possible to speak with Zacharias today?"

Joseph groused, "If I keep pulling these men from their jobs we will never get anything done around here."

"That's not a problem, if you can get us that hope chest, we'll be out of your hair in no time."

Joseph harrumphed, "That'll be a welcome blessing…"

**Author's Note: This chapter was a bear to write..I wanted to make sure I got everything just right. How did I do? Are the emotions here believable? Let me know and give me suggestions on how I can improve!!**


	5. Chapter 5

Praying Hands 5

**Disclaimer: I don't own Bones**

It was early afternoon by the time Rankin and Booth had collected Brennan and headed back to the local police station to go through the hope chest.

Brennan set up her laptop and got a live connection to the Jeffersonian, then she connected her camera and up loaded the many pictures she had taken during her visit. After speaking with Angela and Wendell about her suspicions she turned to help examine the contents.

Booth and Rankin lifted the large wooden box and placed it on the autopsy table. Across the front of the box under the ornate lock was carved the name, "Emaline," which was surrounded by carved flowers and scrolls and under that still was carved "Psalm 144:15 Blessed are the people of whom this is true; blessed are the people whose God is the LORD."

Rankin pulled the pin from the latch on the lock and gently lifted the flat lid. Inside they found the young woman's entire life. Booth reached in the chest and pulled out the first item he found, an old, well used, bible and wrapped around the book was a carved wooden cross on a ribbon necklace.

"That's beautiful," Booth said, he gripped this small cross and closed his eyes in prayer.

"Booth, are you ok?" Brennan asked, sensing his turning mood.

"Yeah," Booth replied seeming to visually shrug off whatever emotional tide had overcome him in the moment, "Let's get through this."

Next her clothes were pulled from the box and laid out. Under her clothes were two blankets, one was clearly older and Brennan lifted it out of the box and gently unfolded it. In one corner was embroidered the name 'Emaline.' Brennan brought the second blanket out, it was much newer than the other and so unfolded much easier. It was nearly the same size, and in one corner a pencil box was drawn, obviously in preparation of embroidering a name there.

"Baby quilts. This one, "she said indication the older blanket, "was obviously Emma's. Emma isn't her mother's first child is she?"

"No, how could you tell," Rankin asked clearly amazed by her deduction.

"This quilt was made with some skill; her mother had obviously made some before this one. The second, Emma must have been making for her child. From the blanket we can assume this is her first child."

"Why is that?"

"The stitching is uneven and you can see where she sewed, then ripped out stitches and tried again. Mary says that only married women work in the sewing room and that Emma had only been married seven months, so her skills would be weak."

"Emma's parents say she wasn't married."

"A young woman in their culture would not have engaged in premarital sex and if she did everyone would have known. Plus that would have been grounds for shunning and her body doesn't show signs of that."

"What signs would those be?"

"Well apparently when a woman is shunned they cut her hair off and send her to a remote cabin until the shunning is over, Emma doesn't show signs of having her hair cut that short, or the malnutrition that would have resulted from not eating in that cabin" she spoke as she reached down to the bottom of the chest, "plus we have this," Brennan pulled out what appeared to be a white handkerchief, "her wedding veil."

"So what are our plans?" Booth asked this time.

"Well Mary has invited me to watch the ritual cleansing of one of her friends, before her wedding."

Then Rankin spoke, "And we are going to speak with Zachariah tomorrow."

"Sounds like a plan."

Brennan and Booth placed all the items back in the box while Rankin filled out the evidence forms and attached them to the box. Once everything was fixed in the lab and they had packed up Rankin drove Booth and Brennan back to their hotel for the night.

Brennan ordered Chinese for them while Booth took a shower. It was delivered while Booth was still showering so Brennan stuck her head in the bathroom door and called to him, "Food's here."

There was a sigh, "ok be there in a minute."

Booth emerged from the bathroom a few minutes later wearing lounge pants and a t-shirt. His face wore a pensive expression and his mood was dark. They began eating in silence and after several minutes Brennan decided to breach the silence.

"This case is really hard for you isn't it?"

"God, yes."

Brennan looked down at her food then back up at Booth, "I want to understand."

Booth smiled at her somewhat sadly, "I know you do."

Both paused while Booth gathered his thoughts.

"Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward."

"What?"

"That's a Psalm. It means that children are gifts from God, a reward. Something to be treasured and protected."

"You don't think they are trying to protect their children by keeping them on the mountain?"Brennan asked quietly, trying to absorb what he was telling her.

Booth shook his head, "No, I think that is part of 'Running a Cult 101'."

"You're saying they're a cult?"

"You separate from the mainstream so that the only point of view people are exposed to is your's and you indoctrinate them."

Brennan's brows furrowed in thought, "Can you give me examples?"

"Ok, everyone eats in one central location, the chores are divided by the leaders, family units are blurred to include nearly everyone, and everyone is 'bonded' together."

"Booth, those aren't bad things."

"It's exactly what Jim Jones had going at his compound."

"These people aren't looking for a mythic utopia by following an ego centric psychopath; they are practicing the lifestyle they feel God has ordained through the bible. I would think that as a Christian you would approve."

Booth shook his head in frustration and walked to the bedside table and pulled the Gideon bible from the top drawer and tossed it on the bed, "Bones, I have read this book from cover to cover, and it never says 'take advantage of young girls by forcing them into marriage'."

"So is your main objection to the polygamy or the alleged child marriages?"

"I think I am more angry about the children. I mean, adults are adults, they can deal with the consequences of their actions, but when its kids, it's just different," Booth looked down at the floor for a moment then looked back at Brennan, " I mean this Emaline, she was sixteen and already married and expecting her first child. When I was sixteen I was worried about getting a date for Friday night and whether Pops would let me drive the truck or not. They stole her childhood from her, and it makes me so angry that those people are using God and the bible to justify that. "

Brennan's eyes searched Booth's, "The bible is very important to you isn't it?"

"Bones, that's God's word. It gives us guidance for our everyday lives."

Brennan thought a moment before asking, "Well, what does the bible say about marriage?"

Booth's brows rose slightly at her question, Brennan noticed his expression and quickly said, "Just to help me contextualize the social morays present at the compound," her cheeks flushing a pretty rose color.

Booth smiled at her discomfort, walked over to sit next to her on the bed and opened the bible. After flipping through the book and scanning a few pages he came to one passage that he felt summed up the bible's views, and indeed his view of marriage, "Here, read Ephesians 5:22-33. This explains how God wants marriage to work"

He watched as she read the passage, it was the one his priest had told him to consider when Booth was thinking about asking Rebecca to marry him. It had completely changed his view of marriage. After a few moments of reading Brennan looked up from the bible and said, "That's not how they view marriage."

He shook his head, "No it isn't," he said scooting farther on the bed, "They concentrate on the wives being submissive and don't look at the husband's side of it. A man can't properly love more than one wife. I think God intended for husband and wife to dedicate completely to each other."

"While the concept of monogamy is an anthropological abnormality, I will admit that sounds nice."

Booth smiled at Brennan, shifting a little closer to her while closing the bible on her lap, "Yes it does," he said, his voice dropping slightly. Brennan's eyes drifted to Booth's lips, silently willing him to close the gap and kiss her. Booth leaned forward too, his pulse pounding in his ears.

Whatever spell had been weaved between them was broken when the infernal beeping of Brennan's cell phone interrupted. Booth watched as Brennan stretched across the bed to grab her phone, "Brennan…Wait, Mr. Bray slow down…" While Brennan talked to Wendell on the phone, Booth stretched out on her bed and watched her work. He was pleased she seemed receptive to his advances, when he had shifted closer to her; she hadn't pushed him off the bed.

Brennan pulled her laptop off the bedside table and quickly pulled up the internet connection to see what Wendell was sending her. She placed the computer on the bed near Booth's ribcage, and she stretched out on the lower half of the bed.

"Did you compare the marks on both women? Are you positive the marks are from the same weapon? Ok. Good work Mr. Bray."

Brennan slid her phone closed and turned off her computer before speaking to Booth, "They've identified the murder weapons. Mr. Bray believes that a rolling pin and a butter churn pattern were used on both women. "

"Ok so in the morning after we talk with Zachariah we'll look for a butter churn."

"Right, but Booth this changes the entire focus of the case. We need to call Rankin and let him know…"

"In the morning Bones, we can do all that in the morning. For right now, let's take a break from the case and watch a movie?"

Brennan thought about it for a moment, but the puppy dog eyes Booth combined with the charm smile were impossible to resist, so she acquiesced. She told Booth to pick something on the TV while she got ready for bed. When she returned she was wearing clothing much like Booth's; a pair of lounge pants and a t-shirt. Booth had stretched out on his bed and had piled all his pillows plus all of Brennan's at the head of his bed. When she stared at the arrangement he patted the space next to him saying, "I don't bite."

It wasn't long into the movie that Booth's soft snoring alerted her to the fact that he was asleep. She looked over at him and saw that his head had fallen forward and his chin was resting on his chest. With his face relaxed he looked very boyish, and completely lovable. With a sigh, Brennan got up from his bed and tossed her pillows back on her bed. Booth muttered in his sleep and flipped over on his stomach when Brennan vacated her space next to him. He nuzzled the space she had just been sitting in, sniffed and sighed contentedly. Brennan couldn't help but chuckle at his child-like demeanor, so different from his hardened FBI persona.

She snuggled herself down in her bed with her laptop, fully intending to work on her book, but snippets from their conversation kept intruding. Brennan felt like she understood Booth a little bit more after that chat and could see where his animosity was coming from. Of course then their almost kiss came to mind, her lips tingling as though they had really been touched by his. With a sigh Brennan turned to the sleeping Booth, "I wish I could understand those women. Even if it is anthropologically normal, I don't think I could share the man I love with someone else," then after a few minutes of watching him breath she added, "I guess I'm lucky you find it morally offensive." Brennan slid the computer to the far side of the bed and turned off her light, and then she added again, "So I don't have to kick your ass."

**Did I do ok? Let me know what you think and what you think I can improve on. Thanks!**


	6. Chapter 6

Praying Hands 6

**Disclaimer: Don't own Bones (is anyone shocked?)**

**Author's note: 1: I'm sorry for the delay. 2: There is a ritual described in this chapter that may be a little disturbing, it was taken off a pagan ritual I read about somewhere (fuzzy on the details).**

Friday 7:20 am

Rankin met with Brennan and Booth at the local Shoney's in town for breakfast before heading back up to the mountain. Once they had their plates filled at the buffet and their drinks were delivered the trio began discussing the case and their theories on the murders.

"I think it was this Zachariah character, I'm thinkin' Emma took a shine to some other guy up there an' he beat her to death."

Brennan shook her head at Rankin and said definitively, "It wasn't a man."

"How can you possibly know that?"

"We found out last night that she was struck with a rolling pin and a butter churn paddle."

"And a man can't swing those things?" Rankin asked with a just a little attitude.

"Why would a man use them? He is far more likely to grab something he uses every day."

"So what do you think happened?"

"I think Emma was assaulted by two women. Probably two of the elder women."

"Why two elder women, Bones?" Booth asked, intrigued with this revelation.

"Women in these cultures tend to solve disagreements by destroying an item from the other person, this incident bares the markers of punishment gone too far."

"So you think interviewing Zachariah is a waste of time?"

"Not at all, find out who his wives are, at least one of the assailants was in his household."

* * *

The group arrived at the compound at 9:30 ready to continue their investigation.

Booth and Rankin went into the dining hall to meet with Zachariah while Brennan went farther into the compound with Mary. She seemed far more subdued than she had yesterday, and definitely more pale. When they were far out of ear shot of the men and half-way to their destination Brennan placed a stalling arm on Mary's and asked tentatively, "Mary, are you alright?"

Mary blushed, "Sure, I just started my week with Joseph and he kept me up late."

"So each wife spends one week with her husband at a time?"

Mary was still blushing, "That's how it works in our house, there are five of us and we each get one week at a time. But the other husbands may run their houses different."

Brennan absorbed that information before asking, "Sharing your husband doesn't bother you?"

Mary paused in her walking to turn to Brennan, "I don't share my husband. The week he and I are together, I share him with no one, he is my husband alone. The other weeks he is their husband and no one else's," then she began walking again.

Brennan shook her head, "I don't see how you do it. I don't think I could share the man I love with someone else."

"I think we see love differently. We are taught that love is a daily commitment to a person no matter what happens. The love you are talking about is just lust, and fades with time; our love is eternal because you reaffirm it each day."

Mary walked up to the small cabin they had come to and turned back to Brennan, "Now you wait here, while I ask permission for you to enter."

Mary opened the door and walked in, leaving Brennan outside to twiddle her thumbs waiting. From inside the cabin she could hear raised voices for a time. Then the door slammed outward, nearly knocking into Brennan. In the door frame stood a tall woman, her hair pulled back in a severe bun, with stern features.

"If you're comin' in, come on." With that the woman left the door open and Brennan standing alone again.

Brennan quickly followed in, not wanting to miss the opportunity they had presented. She quickly found where Mary was sitting and joined her.

Mary leaned close to Brennan and whispered, "That was Sarah, Zachariah's senior wife."

"Is she in charge here?

"Yes, Caroline is going to be Zachariah's new wife, so his other wives host the cleansing ceremony. "

"Who gets invited to this ceremony?" Brennan asked quietly reaching her hand into her jacket pocket to turn on her digital recorder.

"The husband's other wives host the ceremony, the bride, her mother and her mother's sister wives come and several friends of the bride."

Brennan looked to the figure kneeling in the center of the circle of women. She seemed so small and fragile wearing the long white robes she had on, "How old is Caroline?"

"She will be 15 next month, but Zachariah is impatient to have his bride so they moved the date up."

The woman named Sarah walked over to Caroline and placed both hands on her shoulders before speaking to the group, "Beloved, we are gathered to prepare Caroline to enter into our family. Please bow your heads to pray. Heavenly Father, we come before you…"

Brennan's mind trailed off, she covertly studied the women around her, and saw they ranged in age from about forty all the way to fifteen or sixteen. She had suspected that child marriages were occurring, but now they would have evidence and cause to remove the children from the compound. But would that be against the anthropologist's code of minimal effect on the study group? Did that matter at this point?

"Amen." The women around her echoed Sarah's statement and all raised their heads.

The next to get up was a graying woman, who was obviously Caroline's mother. She knelt in front of her child and grasped both her hands, "May God be with you and bless you, May you see your children's children, May you be poor in misfortunes and rich in Blessings, May you know nothing but happiness  
from this day forward, May God be with you."

The group began singing, first the words to the hymn, "Faith of Our Mothers," then moving on to various others. The singing last about an hour and all the while Brennan watched the others. She quickly noticed that Sarah and another woman, whose name she did not know, were watching her secretly. After the singing was finished the woman on the other side of Mary nudged her in the side, obviously reminded her of her part in the ceremony. Mary and two other women set about unbraiding and combing out Caroline's hair, while they were preparing her, the other women took turns giving Caroline advice for her upcoming marriage.

After her hair had been arranged and each woman had given her advice Mary came to rejoin Brennan, leaning close she explained what would happen next, "Now each of Zachariah's wives will give her a gift of scripture. Sarah goes first."

Sarah read from First Corinthians, which extolled the virtues of love.

Then came Eliza, who read from first Peter and the Ruth, who read from first Timothy. Anne read from the psalms. Jane read from Genesis, Eva read from Matthew, and lastly Erin read from another section of first Corinthians. As Brennan watched she became curious as to why Zachariah had more wives than Joseph, "Mary, why does Joseph have fewer wives than Zachariah?"

"Joseph lost two wives last year, and by our law, he cannot marry again until I have given him a child."

"Why?"

"The bible tells that a man cannot put away a wife in favor of another, and to each wife he must be equal. I won't be equal until I have a child."

"I understand that Emma was going to be Zachariah's wife. "

"She was Zachariah's wife. He married her after Ester vanished."

Sarah turned from where she was standing and with a harsh scowl, hiss, "Will you two show respect to the Lord's word?"

The two stopped talking and went back to watching the ceremony. As the women came and read from the bible, Caroline's face became paler and soon tears began to cloud her eyes.

Brennan leaned into Mary and asked, "Why is she crying?"

"She's scared of the last part."

As the last woman finished reading her verse, the other woman began to rise and head for the door. As the women cleared the way, Brennan noticed for the first time the small table near the fireplace. On it was a small implement and a white towel type cloth. In the fireplace was a small vat that was steaming. Caroline, was openly weeping as the last of the women exited the building, leaving only her, her mother, and her mother's sister wives in the room.

The women stood outside the cabin speaking with one another, while Mary explained to Brennan what was happening, "They are praying with her now, and saying their goodbyes. When they are done, they will spill her virgin's blood to prove she was pure until today. This signifies her leaving their family and in the morning she will enter theirs."

"And until then?"

"She stays in the cabin, and we take turns watching over her."

From within the cabin they could all hear Caroline crying in earnest and pleading with them to not do this.

Sarah spoke aloud to the group, "She's panicking. That'll just make it worse." Several other women nodded their agreement. Brennan thought she seemed a bit cold, given the supposed joyousness of the occasion. Caroline's crying had reached a fevered pitch and was followed quickly by a shrill scream. Moments later, Caroline's mother opened the door and hung from a nail beside the door, the white towel that had been pristine on the table. It now sported a bright red patch of blood. Her mother's eyes were puffy and rimmed with red, evidence of crying and the difficultness of the task they had performed. Her mother was followed out by the other women from her family. They too bore the look to sorrow, as Caroline had been like a daughter to them all.

Brennan took note that none of the women looked at either Sarah or Eliza as they made their way back to their home.

Mary whispered to Brennan, "Now, Zachariah's wives will wash her and make their bed for the wedding night in the cabin. "

Sarah sent the younger wives into the cabin to help Caroline, while she and Eliza set about preparing the bed.

"You said the wedding isn't until the morning, what does Caroline do now?"

"She stays in this cabin, with someone to watch over her. She will pray for guidance from God and his blessings on her marriage."

"And you're one of the people who will watch over her?"

"Yes, it is usually the people she chooses."

After the other women had left Brennan and Mary entered the cabin again to find Caroline curled up on the bed Sarah and Eliza had brought in. Mary immediately went to Caroline and placed her arms lovingly around the young woman and made soothing noises.

Caroline's voice was muffled as she spoke into Mary's shoulder, "Oh Mary please help me."

Mary gently rocked with Caroline still in her arms, tears were now filming over her eyes as well, "You're gonna be fine Caroline.'

"No," Caroline said, her voice cracking, "I'm gonna end up just like Ester and Emma."

"You can't think like that. Caroline, God is going to protect you."

"Like He protected them?"

Mary's seemed sadder when she announced, "We don't question God's will, you know that."

Caroline's face twisted into a mockery of a smile, "God's will or Sarah's will?"

"Caroline, don't say things like that."

Brennan spoke then, seeing this as her chance to really understand what had happened, "No Caroline, tell me what happened."

Caroline seemed torn between keeping the secret and finally getting it off her chest, but Mary spoke first, "That'll only get her in trouble."

"No," Brennan said shaking her head, "It won't. I have a friend in the FBI and we will make sure you don't get in trouble. "

Caroline stared at her hands, wringing them anxiously, "You see, Ester was…"

"A young woman who was too flighty for her own good," this was barked out by Sarah, who had entered the cabin soundlessly while they talked.

Caroline paled again when she saw the look of malevolence in Sarah's face when she spoke, "And you would do well, Caroline, to remember that. Your husband seeks Godly women to be in his house, keep your nose in scripture and out of the sky," then turning to Brennan, "Temperance, your men are looking for you. Joseph sent me for you."

Brennan got up and dusted off her jeans before following the woman out of the door, before completely leaving she turned around and said to Caroline, "When you're ready, we can help."

Sarah swung the door shut on those words and turned bearing down on Brennan, "All you heathen women are exactly alike. You think I'm too stupid to see what you're tryin' to do here?"

"I don't think you're stupid, I think you're very smart. You'd have to be to control all your sister wives under your husband's nose without being detected, to kill two and never be caught."

She smirked when she replied, "I didn't kill no one, God called them home."

"Is that how you make it easier to live with, saying God did it?"

The smirk drained off her face, being replaced with a glare, "Why don't you just stay out of my way, and we'll get on just fine? Keep your uppity nose out of my business. Cause if you don't, I promise you won't like the results" With that said Sarah stormed off leaving Brennan to follow the trail back to the guys.

On the way back Brennan remembered the digital recorder that was hidden in her jacket pocket. When she retrieved it from the pocket she saw that it was still recording, but the battery signal was blinking indicating that it was low, turning it off she smiled knowing they had a new bargaining chip now.

**So how did I do? Let me know what I can do to improve .**


	7. Chapter 7

Praying Hands 7

Booth watched Brennan in the rearview mirror of the SUV as they rode down the road. Beside him Rankin was rambling on about the information that they had gained from Zachariah, oblivious to Brennan's inattention. Her pensive mood was troubling, and he wanted to get to the bottom of it as quickly as possible.

When she didn't respond to Rankin's question about what she had discovered, he asked, "Bones are you ok?"

She finally looked up from her musings then, "Yeah Booth, I'm just processing. I recorded everything we did today; we need to review it."

"Ok," then turning to Rankin, "let's just head to the hotel, we'll be more comfortable there."

"No problem"

The car went silent again, as each person lost in thought. In quick order Rankin had pulled the SUV into a parking space at their hotel. The occupants got out and the two males made their way to the lobby doors, Brennan remained behind saying she needed to make a phone call.

She spent several minutes speaking with Dr. Nygri Pasuatu, a leading anthropologist in the study of polygamist societies. The discussion had given her time to get her emotions in check and set her mind to view the evidence in a scientific manner. After thanking the doctor for his time, she went up to the room.

When she entered the room Rankin had taken the desk chair and Booth was seated on the end of her bed, the two studying their notes from their interview with Zachariah.

Booth looked up when she came back into the room, "You ok Bones?"

"Of course."

He could tell from the look on her face she had hidden whatever was bothering her behind that veil of science, and wouldn't be willing to talk about it for a while, so instead he asked about the recording.

"Do you have your recorder?"

The men sat listening with interest to the conversations going on in the recording and taking notes, then sat and stared in horror when it came to the end of the cleansing ceremony. For her part, Brennan went to the restroom when she knew that part was coming. She emerged some time later, when she felt enough time had passed and those noises would have stopped.

When she reentered the room Ranking stopped the recording and turned to her, "You know, we have enough evidence here to get a court injunction to have the children removed from the compound."

"If you do that the women in the compound will shut down, and we won't get any information." This said by Booth.

"You don't know that."

"Come on Rankin, you heard what they do to their children. Do you think they are going to talk to strangers who come in and take their kids?"

"We just can't sit on this."

"And we won't. But if we act on this before we catch the killer we will never solve the case."

Rankin reluctantly agreed to hold the information, at least until after tomorrow. With the hour growing late, Rankin soon left, once again promising to return in the morning. As he left Booth shut the door and bolted it shut, when he returned to the main area of the hotel room, he found Brennan sitting on the edge of her bed staring at the floor, deep in thought again.

Booth walked over to the edge and sat down next to her, watching her face. After a few moments of silence, he leaned over and bumped her gently with his shoulder, "Hey Bones, you want to go out, have a drink?"

Brennan smiled, "Yeah."

After asking the night time desk clerk for directions to the nearest bar, the pair bundled up against the cold and made their way the two blocks down to the nearest bar. The neon sign out front read, 'Smokies' but the 'i' was out so it glowed, 'Smok es.' The inside was crowded with the locals, and blaring with "honky tonk" country music.

Booth placed a hand on her back as he steered them through the throng of moving people. The bar itself was less crowded than the floor, so they were able to find two bar stools next to each other open. They ordered whatever was on tap and easily settled in to watch the people around them.

After the first beer had been consumed and they were quickly draining the second, Booth leaned close to be heard over the din, "So what was bothering you today?"

"Nothing."

Booth cut her a look that said he clearly thought she was lying, "I can tell when something's wrong, something was definitely wrong."

"As an anthropologist I am suppose to study humans and human culture without judgment or interference."

"That's an excellent job description, Bones, but it doesn't tell me what's wrong."

"I seriously interfered in their lives today Booth. First rule of anthropology is to have a minimal effect of the study group."

"Right, but Bones, this isn't a study, it's a murder investigation. That changes the rules."

She got a wistful smile on her face, "I know, but for a little while, I felt like a real anthropologist again."

"You are a real anthropologist Bones. And what was so bad about what you did today?"

"I've jeopardized our investigation. And…"

"How did you endanger our investigation?"

"You don't think Sarah is going to scare the other women into being quiet?"

"I think she would have done that anyway. Besides, I think you are underestimating my considerable charm."

Brennan smiled, while her eyes filmed over with tears, "I don't think charm is going to be enough this time."

"If it isn't then we have the recording..."

She looked down at her hands, "Yeah the recording…"

"What?" Booth said leaning down, trying to look Brennan in the eye.

"Did you hear how scared they sounded?"

Booth scooted closer to Brennan, "Yeah I did, and I heard you trying to make it better."

"I didn't make it better, I made it worse, those girls are going to suffer consequences for my actions and…I shouldn't have gotten involved, but I just couldn't seem to stop myself."

When she didn't continue Booth reached down and took one of her hands in his, "Hey, you didn't do anything wrong. Don't you always say its some biological imperative to protect the young of society?"

Brennan smiled at him, "You're going to use my own argument against me?"

"That's the plan."

"I don't like it."

Booth smiled then, remembering that very same comment coming from his lips under very different circumstance, so he replied with her response then, "I'm fairly certain you're not supposed to."

This made Brennan chuckle.

"Seriously Bones, sometimes emotions get the better of you and that's ok, it's just part of being human."

Brennan sat up straighter in her chair and wiped her face, where tears had been, saying, "Well sometimes having feelings stinks."

Booth laughed, "Yeah it does. Now, let's head back to the room; we're going to need all the rest we can get if we're going to catch a murderer tomorrow."

After paying their tab, Booth ushered Brennan back through the crowd and onto the street.

As they walked back to their hotel, Booth couldn't help but watch Brennan out of the corner of his eye. She seemed so much more at ease than when they had walked this way a couple short hours ago, and he was glad he was in part the cause of this shift. She looked really beautiful when she was at ease and just being her.

Her facial expression was one of thoughtful contemplation; it begged him to ask, "What's on your mind Bones?"

"I was just thinking about how I enjoy studying other cultures, like I did before the Jeffersonian Institute."

"You aren't thinking about leaving me are you?" He asked with a playful smile on his face and bumped her on the shoulder again. It seemed as though once their shoulders touched, the rest of their arms followed suit, and ended with their hands clasped.

Neither appeared willing to acknowledge the continued contact as Brennan replied, "As much as I would enjoy returning to that field of study, I don't think I could ever leave you."

"Ah Bones, you're making me blush," he said playfully, but inside his heart was soaring, it was a far cry from those three words he longed to hear, but it was pretty darn close!!

"I mean, how would you ever solve murders without me?" She said with a grin of mischief on her face.

"Gee, thanks Bones."

"You're welcome."

Their playful banter continued all the way to the hotel, and up to their hotel room. It was only when Booth had to unlock the door, did they let go of each other's hands. After they had both showered and bundled down into bed, Booth couldn't sleep. His heart was still fluttering from Bone's backhanded confession. He pulled the cell phone off his and sent a quick text message to Gordon Gordon, "Patience is working."

A few minutes later, his reply beeped on Booth's phone, "Told you so." After reading it, he turned the volume off, checked that the alarm, then rolled over and went to sleep with a smile on his face.

**So how did I do? Let me know what you think.**


	8. Chapter 8

Praying Hands 8

Saturday 8:45 am

When Rankin, Brennan, and Booth arrived at the compound that morning the main area just outside the dining hall was nearly filled with people. When they exited the vehicle, they were immediately greeted by Joseph, who had left his position on the dining hall porch. His flushed face, and contorted features indicated that he wasn't looking for a friendly conversation.

"Agent Booth, are ya'll tryin' to solve a murder, or are you tryin' to convert my women to heathenism?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"You're woman, was spreadin' the evils of the world to my wife Mary and to Caroline yesterday."

"That wasn't Dr. Brennan's intention. Sir, she…"

"She can't talk to any of the women. You see she don't or I'm filin' a complaint."

"Yes sir, we understand," when he turned around, Booth found a very disgruntled Brennan standing behind him, seeing her expression he said, "Now Bones…what's more important You're pride or catching whoever killed those girls?"

Acquiescing his point she said, "Fine, hand me my bag. I'll search for the murder weapon while you interview the women. "

Booth looked down at the long list of women that she suggested he interview today, "Who do I start with?"

"The top, I listed them in order of youngest to oldest."

Booth turned to Joseph, "Can you ensure that these ladies are available to talk with us today?"

He snatched the paper grouchily from Booth's hand, "Yeah, anything to get you people out of my hair."

Within the hour, all the women on their list were seated on the front porch of the dining hall with instructions to not leave, until they were done talking with the agents. Also, as requested Zachariah was present for the interviews with his wives.

Erin, his next-to-youngest wife now, was called in first. She was a skinny with red hair and a smattering of freckles across her face. Rankin reached out and placed the digital recorder in front of the couple.

"Ok Miss. Erin, what can you tell us about Ester?"

Erin's head snapped up from looking at the table, and Zachariah's face clouded with confusion, they both thought these interviews would be about Emma, "Ester?"

"Yes ma'am."

"She was a sweet girl," Erin looked Rankin in the eye, "A Godly woman…"

"Go on"

"She had given Zachariah his son, back in August of that year. Ester was having a hard time adjustin'. Sarah was tryin' to council her, help her through it when Ester disappeared."

"What do you think happened?"

Erin's eyes flickered between the agent and her husband sitting beside her. Seeing her discomfort Zachariah reassured her, "Tell them the truth. The bible tells us the truth will set you free."

"I don't think she would have left willingly. Even if she was depressed, I don't believe she would ever leave her baby willingly."

"Thank you Erin, we appreciate your time."

Erin nodded, looked to her husband for permission to leave, receiving his nod she quit the room.

"Who's next?" Booth asked, searching the list and began feeling like today was going to drag.

Meanwhile, Brennan had made her way past the main buildings on hill top. Each family had a house separated from the others, and Brennan checked around each building and in the sheds she could find. As she came round a curving path, Brennan spotted a large barn in the distance. There were several cows munching on grass in the paddock directly to the left of the barn, and they spared Brennan barely a glance as she walked along the fence to the barn's side door.

The smell of moldy hay and cow manure assaulted Brennan's nose as she entered the barn. There were two cows, standing in the milking stalls closest to the open back doors. The one in the farthest stall stared at Brennan balefully, while the other came out to investigate her. The large mammal lumbered to where Brennan was standing scanning the room for churn paddles, and mouthed at the hem of Brennan's shirt. She gently pushed on the beast's nose and said softly, "stop." Because cows obviously do not speak English the cow pushed back on Brennan's hand, encouraging the woman to pet its nose further.

Brennan noticed a room on the right side of the room, with a clip board tacked to the door. Leaving the cow she went to investigate the clip board and the room behind it. The clip board held a large stack of documents from the Tennessee Health Inspection and Business Bureau. Opening the door, Brennan found the office. In one corner of the room, was a large incubation cabinet. The glass door on the front made seeing the vials contained there easy. Across the front on each vial and the larger flasks on the lower shelves were labels. There was one large container on the bottom shelf with the words '_S. cremoris._' That name seemed familiar to Brennan, but she wanted confirmation from Hodgins. She pulled out her phone pressed number 4 on her speed dial to get Hodgins.

After two rings the physical scientist picked up the phone, "Bugs, particulates, and slime, what's your poison?"

"Jack, I need you to confirm some evidence for me."

"Sure Dr. B"

"I am looking at a vial labeled '_S. Cremoris'_. Can we assume that this is a culture of the bacteria we found on both of our victims?"

"That would be a reasonable assumption."

"Would we be able to run DNA and match this as a source of the bacteria?"

"Sure, I'm just not sure that would be probative for the investigation."

"I'm looking at some order vouchers for bacteria supplies. I think we can…"

In the background Hodgins could hear a door creaking loudly, followed by a woman shouting. He could hear Brennan shouting back, but now the sounds were muffled, the next sounds that came through the phone sounded like a rather violent confrontation and finally a loud thump.

"Dr. B?"

He didn't receive a response.

"Dr. B?"

There was some shuffling noises and then the phone went dead. Hodgins stared at the phone for a few moments in a stunned state before shaking himself out of it and dialing Booth.

Booth stared at Eliza, Zachariah's second wife. She was a relatively pretty woman, she was only slightly graying and her features were soft. Her personality, however, matched Sarah far more than her own looks.

Booth was growing tired of her game, "Do you know what happened to Ester and Emma?"

"Agent Booth, As I have said before, the Lord called them home."

"Do you know why they were called?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"It is not our place to question the Lord."

Booth was about to really lose his temper when his cell phone rang. Seeing it was Hodgins he growled in frustration. Flipping open his phone with far more vigor than was needed he snarled into the phone, "Squint, this had better be important."

"Whoa there big fella," Hodgins said, sensing that Booth was already feeling rather foul, "I was just calling to make sure Dr. B was alright."

That got Booth's attention, "What do you mean?"

"Well she had called about the dairy bacteria, you see she wanted to know if we would be able to extract…"

"Falling asleep here Hodgins"

"Right, well in the middle of talking I heard some other woman screaming and now she won't answer her phone."

"What was she talking about before the woman started screaming?"

"Something about this dairy bacteria"

Booth looked up to Eliza sitting across from him, her facial expression, which had been one of bland disinterest, was now a malicious smile, "Is something wrong agent Booth?"

"Do you know what's happened to her?"

The smile grew wider, "I don't know agent Booth, maybe God's called her home too…"

**Am I doing a good job? Let me know how I can improve!! :)**


	9. Chapter 9

Praying Hands 9

"Agent Booth, what's going on?" Rankin asked, from his place next to him.

Booth spared him a glance for a nano-second before sprinting to the door, he shouted across the room as he ran, "Arrest her."

Booth was out the door before Rankin could respond, "For what?"

As he rounded the corner he asked the now smug woman, "Do you know what this is about?"

"Not at all," Eliza responded as the cuffs were snapped into place.

Zachariah reentered the room just as Rankin was sitting her back in her chair, to wait for the return of Booth. His outraged comment boomed across the room, "What is the meaning of this!?"

"I have no idea Mr. Zachariah. Agent Booth just told me to cuff her and then went tearin' out of here like he had the devil on his heels."

"Maybe he does…" this was said by Eliza.

Zachariah turned to Eliza, "What did you do?"

"I didn't do anything. This is the Lord's will husband."

Zachariah's face paled and then he was racing out of the room to find Booth.

Booth was still talking to Hodgin on the phone, desperately racing from building to building searching for his beloved partner.

"Alight Hodgins, what was the last thing she said before the scuffling happened?"

"She called about the bacteria we found on the victims. She said she had found a stock of that in an office. It must be where they process their dairy products."

"Ok diary. Ok I need to find a barn…barn, barn,barn,barn" Booth was quietly chanting, as he scanned the portion of the property he could see from his vantage point on a small hill. There wasn't a barn in sight, "Hodgins, are you sure man?"

"Yes, hey man don't worry, you're going to find her."

Booth teared up little, feeling the panic rise up in him, "I know, look I'll call when we find her."

Booth hung up the phone and stood still for a moment, taking deep breaths trying to compose himself. He was so intent of scanning the surroundings he didn't hear the figure come up behind him, so when a hand slapped itself down on his shoulder's it jolted Booth.

Spinning, prepared to attack whoever it was that was behind him, he growled, "What"

Behind him stood a stoic Zachariah, his face grim but determined, "Agent Booth, I know who has your lady friend."

Booth scowled, "Me too, and I promise you I will rip every building to toothpicks until I find her and if even one hair is out of place on her head, I will not hesitate to shoot person's head right off."

With that Booth stalked off, not willing to waste anymore time before finding Brennan. Zachariah followed him closely, "Agent Booth my Sarah is sick."

"That's for damn sure."

"The devil has been eating away at her mind…"

Booth spun around the face the man again, "Zachariah, I don't care. What I can about right now is finding my partner and keeping her safe."

"I understand Agent Booth. She'll be in the dairy barn."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, Sarah ran the dairy barn."

"Well then let's go chop chop man!"

The men turned and now Booth followed Zachariah. He silently prayed to God for mercy, that his partner would be alright. The walk seemed to be taking forever. 'Of course,' he thought grimly, 'I would have gone in the complete opposite direction of where she is."

For his part, Zachariah remained silent as well, his demeanor one of mourning because he knew he could no longer protect his Sarah.

When the barn came in sight Booth sprinted ahead of Zachariah in a rush to save Brennan. When he entered the barn he was confronted by five cows, all meandering around the room and lowing to each other. Above the din, Booth could make out the faint sound of crying. Weaving his way through the cattle he tried to pin point its source. By the time he had made it half way to the closed office Zachariah had joined him.

"She doesn't take them in there. They go downstairs."

Looking around Booth didn't see any stairs, and started wondering if Zachariah's mind had gone too, "What stairs?"

"Over here, "he said as he motioned for Booth to join him.

Leaning down, Zachariah grasped the edge of a concealed door in the floor. As he pulled it open the crying became louder and now they could hear the moaning that was interspersed too. Zachariah flipped a switch as he went down first, and bathed the room in light. This change in the room pulled a gasp from Sarah, who was crouch in a corner of the room beside the body of Dr. Temperance Brennan. As Booth crept down the stairs behind Zachariah he noticed that Sarah still held a bloody churn paddle in one hand. In response to this information Booth pulled his weapon and trained it with deadly accuracy on Sarah's heart.

Shouting across the room he commanded, "Step away from Dr. Brennan."

Shifting her gaze from her husband to Booth Sarah began to cackle. It was a mirthless sound that echoed with grating clarity in the small room, her eyes were blazing with hatred, "Or you'll do what?"

"I will shoot you in the head, now move!"

Sarah picked up the bible that was sitting next to her, not moving away from Brennan or putting down her weapon, and began reading, "For the wages of sin is death…"

"Sarah" Zachariah crooned, in a soothing voice, trying to bring back her reasoned mind.

But she was having none of that, "No! They sinned against me, and the waves of sin is death," she shrieked.

"Sarah they didn't sin against you…" As Zachariah spoke Booth slowly inched himself down the stairs and along the wall keeping his gun trained on the mad woman.

"Yes, yes they did, " she wailed tears falling down her face, " I have played the good and obedient wife for too long. Like Abraham's Sarah I was forced to watch as God gave you a son through another woman. The right that should have been mine as first wife, God gave to another. And then that vile creature had the nerve to be dissatisfied," her eyes began taking on a maniacal gleam, "and then I saw God's will, that the baby should be mine. He was being merciful and sparing me the pain of child birth, that child was really mine. "

Sarah paused in her tirade moaning and rocking back and forth on the floor, "She was just a vessel, worthless in the eyes of God, I did her a favor by sending her back," she said nodding to herself.

"What about Emma?" Booth asked, inching forward, closer still.

"That cow wouldn't learn her place. She mocked me by flaunting her pregnant state. She wanted to take my place, to replace me in Zachariah's affection. I knew she was displeasing God. He bids us be subservient to our husbands, she was controlling. I knew God wanted her and the abomination she carried sent back. Eliza knew too. We are Godly women, He knows, "she stared down at the bible again, openly weeping, "Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake," then she looked up at her husband, "You see? HE knows the truth."

Zachariah's eyes were filled with tears, "Sarah," his head shaking sadly, "I don't think you are pleasing God. Remember the bible also says that women should 'let their crowning glory be a kind and gentle spirit which is pleasing to the Lord.'"

She stared at him in disbelief that he would continue to take their side even after they were gone. Her face contorted with rage and with a snarl she flung the churn paddle with all her might at Zachariah. When it missed she hauled herself off the floor and charged at him, pounding his chest with her fists and crying, "You did this to us…you." Zachariah grabbed her hand and trapped them between her body and his and pulled her into his embrace, tears freely falling down his face now, "My poor Sarah, what has the devil done to you?"

Sarah sagged against him, sobbing in earnest now.

Seeing that Zachariah had Sarah firmly in hand Booth raced to where Brennan was laying in the corner. He gently rolled her over whispering her name, "Bones? Honey, are you ok?"

One eye cracked open amidst the bruises on her face, and with a weak smile she said, "Booth, don't call me honey."

Tears welled in his eyes again, these out of relief, "You get half beat to a pulp and you're still bossy as hell."

Closing her eye again she whispered, "It's one of those endearing qualities that you love so much about me."

"Yeah Bones it is."

Brennan had drifted back into unconsciousness when he had spoken. Booth pulled out his phone to make some necessary calls. The first was to Rankin who was waiting up at the dining hall.

"Rankin here."

"Rankin its Booth."

"What the hell is going on here man?"

"We got a confession from Sarah. Keep Eliza contained up there and call the local cowboys and an ambulance."

"An ambulance?"

"yeah. Sarah tried to bash Dr. Brennan's skull in."

"Oh God, is she alright?"

"Well we won't know until the medics get here."

Next Booth called Hodgins, "Did you find Dr. B?"

Booth smiled at the anxiousness in Hodins voice, and the chorus of questions coming from the back ground of all the squints waiting for answers, "Yeah, she got pretty banged up. We'll know more when the medics get here. You all just stay calm and I'll call with more details when we know more."

Booth walked over to the couple standing to the side, Sarah's crying had reduced to silent tears and shaky sighs.

"Zachariah, I have to take her into custody."

"I understand. Is there any way I can stay with her? Please?"

Booth thought about it for a moment, "I don't see why not. When we get her back to the police station they are going to want to do a psychological evaluation. She needs help."

Zachariah nodded, "I know."

In less than an hour the local cowboys and medics had arrived. Brennan had regained consciousness a few minutes after Booth had placed Sarah in cuffs, he had had to spend the rest of the time practically sitting on Brennan to keep her laying down.

"Booth this is ridiculous, I'm fine."

"Right, cause loosing passing out for thirty minutes is normal."

"I have gained consciousness, clearly I'm already healing."

"Bones, will you stop being Wonder Woman for just one second and let me make sure you're ok?"

"You know I'm not really Wonder Woman right? That was just a costume, maybe you should be checked out too, and clearly you're delusional if you think I'm wonder woman. What if your tumor is coming back?"

Booth rolled his eyes, and prayed for patience, "It's an expression." Outwardly he appeared exasperated, but inside he was definitely feeling better, she must be ok if she's spouting all that "squint speak".

Once the police arrived and the ambulance, matters were quickly settled. Eliza and Sarah were taken into state custody and were being taken to the county lock-up for evaluation, and Brennan was strapped to a stretcher and being placed in the back of the ambulance.

Booth insisted in riding with Brennan to the hospital, but before climbing into the front seat he walked over to speak with Rankin.

"Agent Booth, thank you. I don't think we would have ever solved this without you and Dr. Brennan."

"It's our job. But you're welcome, and any time you're in DC look me up and I'll let you solve a crime up there." Booth said joking with the younger agent, who just smiled back good naturedly.

"Sure thing."

Six months later:

Booth received an email from Rankin bringing him up to date on the case. Sarah had been diagnosed with a mixed delusional disorder and had been remanded to the state mental institution after she was proven to be a treat to herself and others. Eliza, however, was found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder and was serving a 30 year prison term. Rankin was also happy to announce that the FBI was pursuing indictments against several members of the commune for statutory rape and the exploitation of minors, and that Dr. Brennan's recordings were instrumental in their success thus far.

There was a soft knock on the door, and when he looked up he found Brennan standing in the door way.

"Hey, are you ready to head home?"

Booth looked down and saw that it was already seven in the evening, "Yeah Bones lets go."

They had moved in together three weeks ago and were settling into a nice routine, Booth couldn't help but think that their trip to Tennessee had spurred the start of their relationship, and so he figured he could thank Joseph Vanderhoeff for one good thing.

Booth reached into his pocket to ensure himself that the small velvet box was still in his coat and said smiling, "Actually Bones, I think I want to take you out to eat tonight."

**The End**

**Oh my goodness that was a wild ride! I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I have enjoyed writing. Please let me know what you think, and what suggestions you have on how I can improve.**


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